


SoL :: Summer

by thief_nim



Series: Measure Your Life in Love [2]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Romance, they got crushes but they don't know it yet huhu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 17:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13979943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thief_nim/pseuds/thief_nim
Summary: Summer was a season of discoveries.





	SoL :: Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be me expanding on the Summer part of [Seasons of Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13715364) because I wrote a lot more for that fic, but I couldn't make it look nice ;-;
> 
> There's gonna be a "king" side of things, but Niou starts pining first so.

When he came out of the locker room, Masaharu quirked a somewhat disinterested brow at the crowd gathering around the courts. _That_ was a surefire way to run laps until you puked, and he wanted no part in it. It was too damn hot outside, and Yukimura had been on a war path ever since he'd come back. Masaharu turned away from the crowd; if he was going to die from heat stroke, it was going to be on his terms.

He slung his racket over his shoulder lazily as Yagyuu fell into step with him. "Sanada got a challenge from Atobe Keigo."

Masaharu snorted in reply, "How badly is Sanada kicking his ass?"

"Unfortunately for his ego, Atobe hasn't won a single point," Yagyuu slipped a small smirk as he adjusted his glasses.

"Tragic," Masaharu agreed emphatically. The two joined Jackal and Marui in watching the match on a shady hill overlooking the courts, away from the crowd of non-regulars. He idly picked blades of grass as Sanada served.

"I don't get it," Marui snapped a bubble noisily. "He came all the way down here just to get embarrassed?"

Jackal shrugged, "Probably thought he'd win this time."

"Hyoutei's not even going to Nationals this year," Marui pointed out. "Yeah, he's full of himself, but isn't Atobe supposed to be smart?"

Masaharu tuned out the other doubles pair, eyes looking down on the courts as the self-proclaimed king lost yet another point. Jackal was right, nobody as egocentric as Atobe would have shown up if he'd expected to be so thoroughly beaten. It didn't make sense.

However, Sanada continued to decimate Atobe, and Masaharu was getting bored. Apparently, his vice-captain had similar sentiments and took to taunting. When he brought up the fact that Hyoutei had been overwhelmed almost pathetically early in the season, the odd smirk Atobe wore in response was enough for Masaharu to stop fiddling with the grass. He wasn't close enough to get a real read on the other's expression, but Masaharu was sure Atobe had shown up to do anything but lose.

"I'll bet anyone a week's worth of clean-up duty that Sanada loses the next point," he tossed out idly, ignoring the three incredulous looks he was getting.

Marui snapped another bubble, "Two weeks and a cake."

When Atobe won the next point seamlessly, Masahru grinned and leaned forward in anticipation. The courts had gone silent. Marui's mouth was stuck in a gape so wide that his gum threatened to fall out, Jackal's hand already reflexively moving to catch it. Yagyuu was alternating between looking at the courts and eyeing his doubles partner with thinly veiled suspicion.

Atobe's triumphant laugh was a music to Masaharu's ears.

He watched as Atobe's confidence stood up against even Yukimura, his grin growing as Hyoutei's captain issued his own a challenge. Masaharu was more disappointed than Atobe appeared to be when he was turned down, but the promise for a future, more official, match was enough to satiate him.

Masaharu had no idea how Hyoutei had managed to get a bid to Nationals, but as he watched Atobe jog away from the courts in that ugly ass hoodie, he found himself oddly looking forward to their second chance at victory.

 

 

:: ::

 

Nationals was hotter than usual this year, the blazing summer sun making Masaharu dangerously close to openly voicing complaints he usually saved for his family. He didn't hesitate to take the water bottle Yanagi silently offered him, not caring that it probably gave the other more data on his heat tolerance. It was hot, and he was tired of standing there while Yukimuraa chewed their straight set victory to pieces, Sanada standing beside him as menacingly as possible for a middle schooler. He let his gaze wander to some trees casting shade over a pleasantly empty clearing of grass, wondering if it would stay that way long enough for him to claim it as his own.

Yukimura's dismissal of the team came a few minutes later, and Masaharu drained the last of the water bottle Yanagi gave him. He tossed it into a recycling bin as the team broke apart, readjusting his racket bag on his shoulder before heading towards the shade.

He held back a groan when he wasn't allowed to get very far.

"Niou." Masaharu turned around at Yukimura's voice, absently noting that only Yanagi remained with him. "Seigaku's match against Hyoutei starts soon."

"I know," he drawled back easily. The rematch between captains—the only match he was interested in—wouldn't happen for at least a few hours, so there was no reason why he couldn't get a nap in before that happened.

"Tezuka's in Singles Three," Yanagi corrected his thoughts, and Masaharu didn't want to know if it was on purpose or not. "He's playing against Kabaji."

"And?" Quite frankly, Masaharu didn't care who Seigaku's captain was playing. All he cared about was the fact that Atobe had sat out the first round of Nationals and then beat Shishigaku's captain without bringing out whatever he used against Sanada during the second. Masaharu wanted to see whatever it was up close, and Seigaku was going to be his best chance at that happening.

"Renji told me you know how to do a Zero-Shiki Drop Shot," Yukimura gave him a curious look. "How much of Tezuka's play style can you imitate?"

Masaharu wore a impish grin in response, catching on to what Yukimura wanted from him. He could do _way_ more than just imitate play styles, and he had a feeling he'd be showing those skills off soon. "You wanna play a match with him?

"We'll see," Yukimura's smile was amused. "Watch Tezuka's match against Kabaji and update yourself on his post-injury status. Cross-reference with Renji's data to make sure you don't miss anything."

"Got it," he nodded casually. That meant that his nap would have to wait even longer, but at least he'd be doing something interesting… in the hot sun… the very, very hot sun… damn it. He cast one last glance at his shady clearing before heading in the opposite direction, "Let's go, Chief Strategist."

Yanagi fell into step with him, offering up another water bottle as an apology, this one colder than the last with large chunks of ice floating inside. As he held it up against his neck in an effort to cool down, Masaharu idly wondered how many more the other had packed to make sure he would behave.

 

:: ::

 

Atobe's match happened the next day. The weather was cooler after the rain, and Masaharu was in a better mood.

Watching Atobe play up close was a chilling experience. The Hyoutei captain was arrogant, prideful, boastful… but he could play tennis in a way that not many could, Masaharu would admit it. Where Sanada had been beaten by Muga, Atobe shut it down easily by bringing out alternate play styles that Seigaku's first year could only do subconsciously.

Masaharu filed away that information in his brain with a grin.

Atobe's World of Ice though… that make him sit upright.

"That was the same move he used against Genichirou," Yanagi's observation was quiet. "It appears that he can see definitive blind spots."

"Freeze," Masaharu repeated Atobe's command in a mutter as equally quiet as Yanagi. It was easy for him to imagine a few icicles breaking through the court, beacons guaranteeing victory, but Masaharu had a better vantage point than Atobe did. He wondered how many more Atobe could see, how developed his Insight had become. "Do you think he could tell Yukimura's physical therapy wasn't done yet?"

Yanagi took his time replying, and Masaharu belatedly remembered that he wasn't supposed to know that. "… There's an seventy-nine percent chance he knew something wasn't right."

Masaharu nodded in silent agreement. Atobe had only just gotten it to work against Sanada, so he probably wouldn't be as certain.

The match dragged on longer than either of them expected. Apparently, Seigaku's first year made a habit out of evolving mid-match. That was going to be annoying to deal with, and Masaharu was glad Yukimura had been saving his strength for the finals.

Masaharu and Yanagi slipped away from the courts while the two teams shook hands. They settled at a table protected from the sun by a smattering of trees. This was usually the part where they'd trade observations in more detail, but Masaharu had to get something out of the way first.

"We're playing Seigaku in the finals, aren't we?" Fudomine hadn't played Shitenhouji yet, but Masaharu didn't think it mattered.

Yanagi nodded, "Seiichi, Genichirou, and I determined that whoever won between Seigkau and Hyoutei would likely be our opponent in the finals."

"Puri." Masaharu's lips twitched down into a frown before he could stop himself. Normally, he didn't care who they played, but Hyoutei's loss stung for some reason that he couldn't determine. He only really cared about breaking down Atobe's World of Ice, and it wasn't like Masaharu would be the one playing him if their teams met. But still, Hyoutei's second chance of victory ending the way it did bothered him, and he didn't know why.


End file.
